One Candle to Light the Dawn
by JennMel
Summary: BBC's Strange After a particularly brutal demon kill, John -Richard Coyle- returns to his empty home, only to find Toby -Andrew Lee Potts- asleep in his basement. Again. Another symptom of the friendship without reason, and the darkness outside the door


Author Notes: Hi! So this has been sitting on my laptop for a while now, and I wasn't going to post it (lack of category etc.) I don't even know if anyone's going to read this, but then I decided I didn't care, because I remembered how disappointed I was, after having blitzed the entire series of Strange, that NO ONE has written a fanfic - not one! If I'm wrong, I would love to be corrected and be told that my internet searching skills leave much to be desired.

Anyway, should you be here more by chance/Primeval, this fic is based in the world of Strange, a BBC supernatural drama that got too few episodes, starring the amazing Richard Coyle (John) and Andrew Lee Potts (Toby) as 'demon hunters', for lack of a better descriptor! If you haven't seen it - find it, watch it, show it some love! Otherwise, to whoever might actually read this - I hope you like it, enjoy and maybe take the time to say hi through a review!

**One Candle to Light the Dawn**

John rolled his shoulder as he turned down into the dark alley that would lead to the door of his home. The shadows played against the eerie first light as it began to ghost its way out of the horizon, tinting the darkness, not yet with the power to overcome the night. The sleepiness of autumn already lay thick on the air and in John's bones as he pushed against his decrepit door into the house, only to be met with a more familiar darkness.

Shucking off his dark coat, John pinched the bridge of his nose, attempting to expel the image of the demon he had killed. It had been one of the hardest experiences he had been forced to go through since he had first gotten involved in demons just over a year ago, and while he may have finally killed the creature, that still wouldn't bring those three children back to life. He could only take comfort in the fact that he had saved the life of the fourth boy, before the Lamia had got her teeth into him.

John threw the wrought iron bar come Lamia-stabber back into the bucket next to the fire as he crouched to light some warmth into the place. At first they hadn't even known it had been a demon, but the pattern had been to distinct to ignore, and with Kevin being even more unnerved than he usually was when it came to demons, John and Toby had set to work.

Who knew a woman so beautiful could in fact mask the deadly hunger for the flesh of children?

No. Just don't think about it. It was dead. It was over. Another demon dead, another step forward. John picked at the dried blood on his sleeve, before catching himself at the unconscious action and pulled his sleeves down over his hands in an attempt to stave off the cold. He really should start paying more bills...

Bone-tired, but mind still buzzing, John wandered back out into the hall and back into the biting chill that swept under the door. He made a step to go upstairs with the vague notion to wash up, when he saw the tell-tale orange flicker coming out from not only the door he had just come through, but also the door that led down to the cellar. John frowned, distinctly recalling telling Toby to go home and get some rest, and that he would stake out the family home they suspected the Lamia might hit.

Gently, he pushed open the door and softly stepped down into what was supposed to be the kitchen, but in reality was a table, a few chairs, and a chaotic explosion of computer equipment. Despite the events of the night, John couldn't help but allow a small exasperated smile to grace his face as his eyes found Toby. The young man had clearly failed to heed John's advice, and was now instead lying slumped asleep at his desk, hand resting protectively over a laptop that was furiously flashing that it wanted more battery power.

John took the last few steps quietly down into the cellar, wincing slightly as he saw just how awkward an angle Toby had successfully fallen asleep in. On the one hand, he knew he should be angry, both with Toby and with himself. It had only been six months since the bike accident, and John hated to feel responsible for pushing the student so hard. But he knew, especially in this case with the Lamia, that any protests he could have put forth would have been shot down by Toby with a patronising grin on his face. Toby didn't always get as invested as John in the demon cases, but with this one...

_Neu pranse Lamiae vivum puerum extrabat alvo._

The Lamia had stuck a cord, especially once Toby had pulled up those carvings from 13th century Lybia on his computer.

John shivered, both from the memories, and from the deep-chill of the cold that bit into his skin from the old stone and the dank room. A couple of candles was not a good heat source; they would both need to get back into the habit of wrapping up warm again now the summer months had melted away. Getting into the habit of paying bills would probably also be a good plan. At some point.

Unable to leave Toby asleep down in the cold, but equally loath to wake him, knowing that the young man had probably run on as little sleep as John in the last fortnight, he made up his mind. Softly, he sat Toby up, suppressing a smile when Toby muttered and shifted, a frown creasing his forehead before it washed away again as John murmured, "Just go back to sleep, Toby."

No more movement, and so John bent to hook his arms around Toby's back and under his knees, gently picking him up to carry him upstairs. He grinned, knowing Toby would want to throttle him should he ever find out that John had carried him like this, but equally knowing he'd rather face that kind of wrath than a grumpy sleep-deprived student. Making sure Toby's head was secure against his shoulder, John carefully made his way back up the steps. At the same time, he tried not to look too long at the top of Toby's head, at his pitch-dark hair. It had grown out considerably in the six months since the accident, and John could tell that Toby was clearly trying to grow it long enough to cover the white scar that encircled the back of his skull at the top of his neck. But it still stuck out at odd angles, growing slightly off and askew; a stark reminder of Toby lying in that hospital bed.

Pushing into the sitting room, John allowed the warmth of the now crackling fire to wash over them. Quietly using his foot to close the door behind him, he walked over to the sofa and laid Toby down. Immediately, Toby wriggled, curling into what must have been a comfortable position, half-burrowing his head into the space between the sofa arm and cushions. John smiled fondly at the antics, easily draping his long coat over Toby's smaller form in lieu of a blanket to keep him warm. Sometimes, John had to stop and wonder why such a vibrant young man actually put up with him for such extended periods of time as to be called one of his closest friends. And he knew it wasn't just because of demons, and Asmoth, and the accident, and the darkening world. It was something else, of being on the outside of society, demons or no demons, and having someone there with you. Someone you could trust.

As John stood and debated the pros and cons of actually bothering going to bed and risking the inevitable nightmares of the nights' events, there was a shifting behind him, and a sleepy voice, "S'all okay?"

John turned, not entirely sure how awake Toby actually was, considering he was actually more buried into the old sofa than he had been to start with, and his eyes were still closed, but he still smiled sombrely, replying softly, "Yeah. I got it."

Dimly, Toby blinked into a more half-state of consciousness, looking up at John, "And you?"

John grinned easily, "I'd be getting to bed if you'd let me." Neither of them believed the flippant reply, but Toby knew better by now than to actually expect a straightforward answer from John in regards to his health. Toby understood why John was so secretive when it came to telling him and Kevin things. It wasn't because he didn't trust them, but because he trusted them too much. Because when he started telling them everything, there would be nothing to stop them from entering the frontline. Stupid protective streak.

"Thanks for the sofa." Toby murmured, closing his eyes again, too exhausted to actually try and push for any details, knowing that John wouldn't want to talk about the demon yet anyway. Half-heartedly, his mind tried to point out that he definitely had not fallen asleep here, but he found he didn't care, allowing a warm feeling to settle over him, unidentifiable, only that it did not come from the nearby fire.

John let his too-carefree grin to fall into a much more genuine smile, "Anytime geekboy."

A muffled retort of '_crazy priest' _ was barely audible underneath John's coat, where Toby had now burrowed the lower half of his face so that only his closed eyes and messy mop of hair were still visible, and then John knew Toby had fallen back to sleep. He snorted at the young man's odd quirks, and in the warmth of the room, with the sounds of the crackling fire and Toby's soft breathing, John felt a first wave of gentle sleep try to wash over him.

Loath to leave the delicately balanced atmosphere of the room to only retreat upstairs to his cold and nightmare filled bed , John instead settled in the chair next to the fire, folding his arms around himself and letting his eyes fall closes as he rested his head against the back of the chair. Stress bled out of him, and he allowed himself to drift, content to exist in that sliver of time, that one fraction of a moment that marked the time between one demon and the next, that quicksilver of a movement, as the darkest point before the dawn finally gave way, as the shadows turned from the light. In that one grasp of life, when for but a second, everything was normal, everything was right, and everything was safe.

**FIN**

Author Notes: I love their friendship. And needed to write FLUFF :D Thanks for reading and please review!**  
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